Weight Loss Wonder Drugs Won't Do The Trick

April 25, 1999|By Bob Condor.

If you pull up next to Roberta Clarke's car at a stoplight, you might see her shaking her head in response to the radio.

"I've heard those (Metabolife) commercials," said Clarke, a dietitian and coordinator of the Nutrition Clinic at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. "People are always looking for magic pills. But even if Metabolife or some product allows for initial weight loss, statistics are poor for maintaining the new weight."

That hasn't stopped a handful of local radio show hosts (who get a free supply) from touting Metabolife, a product positioning itself as a weight-reducer and energy-booster. Listeners trust the radio personalities, so Metabolife, which claims $1 million in sales every day, gains instant credibility.

"It makes me want to pull over and call the radio station to urge people to see their physicians before taking any over-the-counter medication," Clarke said.

Weight-loss products are indeed cramming the drugstore and health-food shelves. Another product getting considerable attention is Cellasene, an herbal blend aimed at "melting" cellulite that has been all the rage in Australia. With both products, most buyers probably are not first checking with their doctors or nutritionists.

The trend is more disturbing when you consider that the Food and Drug Administration has banned prescription diet pills such as "fen-phen" and Redux because of serious side effects, including leaky coronary valves and weakened heart muscles.

So American marketers have now turned to natural ingredients, presumed by the consumer to be safer. But herbs are being mixed into new and potent combinations for what is basically a weight-loss experiment.

If any company claims to have scientific evidence, ask for the paperwork.

A local herbalist once explained the difference between American herbal products and those bags of roots, berries and leaves a customer might get in Chinatown.

"The Chinese practitioners respect the medicinal strength of herbs and know one balances the other," said the herbalist. "They spend careers studying what herbs go together.

"Here in the States, people are taking one-herb supplements all the time, or they buy a product with a whole bunch of herbs but have no idea how the manufacturer has determined the combination, or even if the manufacturer has people trained in herbal medicine."

For example, many diet products, including Metabolife, contain the stimulant herb ephedra (also known as ma huang or available as the synthetic ingredient ephedrine). Though the FDA does not closely regulate herbs, ephedra is undergoing a safety review after reports of more than 800 cases of adverse effects, from heart attack to hepatitis, and at least 15 deaths.

The makers of Metabolife say their product contains a much lower amount of ephedra per caplet-12 milligrams-than products causing the serious health problems. Nonetheless, the FDA currently recommends taking no more than 8 milligrams per dose and no more than 24 milligrams in a day. Depending on body weight, Metabolife customers take two to six caplets per day.

There are no convenient pills or powders for losing weight, though Americans in each of the last five decades have certainly wanted to believe so-and have the wasted money and dashed hopes to match.

Top doctors who specialize in obesity might argue that if drugs can help the severely overweight person get started, it's worth it, but it's a clinical given that success is tied to lifestyle changes such as better eating patterns and more physical activity.

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TO CONTACT BOB CONDOR or find an archive of his columns, visit chicago-tribune.com/go/health